~Sara~

At least five bergs arrived, and the groups were all hauled inside. 

None of the guards seemed remotely shocked to see Rachel or Sara among the group, which was kind of suspicious. Maybe it wasn't such a prowess that they could escape HQ at first. But when they got to Jorge and Brenda, apparently, they had a problem with both being onboard.

"What are they doing here?" one of them demanded, pointing a gun at Brenda and moving it from her to Jorge. Then, they even went as far as making Thomas choose whether they should shoot Jorge or Brenda. All the while, Sara received nasty stares from the majority of the guys and girls onboard, like it was all her fault.

As if Sara didn't already know. But she had to make another faulty move in order to fix things. She hoped they'd understand later on.

"One..." The guard pointed the gun directly at Brenda's head, threatening to shoot if Thomas remained silent. "Two..."

Irritated, and aware Thomas—hopefully—wouldn't let anyone die, Sara stepped in. "You know exactly who they are. Put that gun away, right now."

Brenda and Jorge gave the guard a klunk-eating grin once he lowered his gun with embarrassment. He opened his mouth as if to question Sara but thought better of it, given that their act was blown as well.

The guard strangely tried to begin a friendly conversation to compensate for the embarrassing situation in which he found himself, but everyone was in much less than a bad mood for a talk at the moment. Growing uncomfortable after minutes of persistent silence and the shifty eyes, the guard finally dropped the attempt.

Then the actual consequences of Sara's actions up until that point, really started to sink in.

If she was doing this, she needed WICKED to stop playing around like they didn't know a shuck thing of what she'd discovered—what she'd been told, actually. She came for answers and actual solutions. She was sick of pointless directions and unclear instructions. It hadn't gotten them anywhere.

Sara only wished that at least the Gladers would understand why she did it. She would have to confront her uncle face to face, or she would never get the explanations she'd been searching for.

But they didn't understand. 

Minho and the other Gladers onboard looked distressed; their disappointment was almost palpable in the air. Even the girls, the Fielders. Sara was hoping they would somehow understand her position since they, too, were forced to act wrongly for a purpose.

Sara could only imagine what the rest of the group in the other bergs felt. Even Newt, who happened to be boarded onto the same berg as her, gave her a sympathetic look with a hint of disappointment.

No words needed to be spoken for her to see he just wanted an explanation, and he'd be satisfied with just that. But she couldn't tell him. After all, she was looking for explanations too—probably more than anyone else—thanks to her untainted memory.

Rebecca, too, would be terribly upset with her, but she would have to understand that Sara had enough lying-to.

She would give anything to remove all the tragedies engraved in her memory, and have the option to retain the good memories. Her mother, her father, Newt, the Gladers. That was it.

Not when her parents died or how they died. Not when she was basically chased out of her home only to run into Janson's house. Not when she found out about the global catastrophe that swept over the planet. But then again, if she didn't have any of those memories, she wouldn't have had the chance to do something useful about it.

That was exactly what she'd sent to waste. She didn't think Rebecca made the right decision. Why her? Why not Newt? He would infinitely be a better candidate to 'save the world' than Sara could ever be.

And Sara wasn't even so sure about Newt anymore. Had he changed or was she just creating other expectations for him as her boyfriend? She loved him. Shuck, she did—so much it hurt. But maybe she wasn't even the best influence for him...

~Rebecca~

Drip. Drip—drop. Drip. Drip.

That was the only audible noise in the padded room besides her troubled breathing, and the uneasy thumping of her own heart.

Rebecca didn't even want to picture the look of disgruntled horror on Sara's face when she would find out about this. Rebecca would be more ashamed for Sara to find out it didn't work than Sara seeing her in this deplorable situation.

Drip. Drop. Drop.

The crimson liquid continued to flow down her face and onto the perfect, pearly white floor. Like her blood was an abomination to the cleanliness of the room. Janson might've been a brute, but that man cared about maintaining an impeccable setting so he could torture unfortunate individuals like herself.

Her captivity wasn't the issue. Sara was going to hate her. Janson knew exactly how to assemble the perfect scheme to distort everything—Rebecca swore her intentions were good from the beginning. It saved Sara's life, but she was afraid things wouldn't seem like that.

She wondered if Sara—

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening; the door which she wouldn't have known was a door until it opened and split from the rest of the white of the wall.

"Rebecca, my darling!" Janson addressed her condescendingly. He was followed into the room by the person who was the epitome of her greatest regret. "She's here. I hope you tell her the truth... or else I'll do it."

"Curse you, Janson," Rebecca growled before spitting at him, her saliva accompanied by a streak of red. She was so weak she couldn't even target his face. Her poor attempt was followed by a series of troubled coughing.

"You make the decisions here, Rebecca."

"No!" she yelled.

"Here's the deal. You agree to tell her, she goes unharmed—Chuck too, I give you food, we're all happy," he said, smiling. He was staring at her with an underlying look of warning.

After a long pause, Rebecca finally gave in. "F—fine."

Satisfied, Janson approached her with the same mediocre amount of food he'd provided for her for the last two days. Barely enough to keep her alive. With the despair of a starving sewage rat, however, Rebecca quickly snatched it and devoured it.

~48 Hours Earlier~

"That's so cool! And what does this do?" the young boy, Chuck, asked Rebecca, pointing to a switch on the controls of her communicator as he took a seat in her office. He was so excited to be there with her.

She had to say, explaining the ins and outs of WICKED technology to such a young mind—open to absorb so much knowledge—was quite entertaining. Rebecca patiently explained how easy it was to communicate with Sara and Rachel.

"They sound like ninjas, you know, all covered up from head to toe," he commented, simulating a silly combat pose, and causing the woman to smile.

She sighed, satisfied with the progress they'd made. "All we have to do is wait for when they face the new creatures, because that's as creative as WICKED gets. When those don't work just like what happened with the Grievers, Janson won't even know it's still us."

Chuck laughed, shaking his head. "For such a fancy place, they don't look like they have enough to fund their intelligence," he said, more laughter following that. "They're so dumb, honestly."

But the episode of mockery was cut short by the quite literal tearing down of her office door, making Chuck and Rebecca jump out of fright.

"Perhaps," Janson began as he entered, followed by guards, "but you, my dear Rebecca, certainly fall even lower than that."

Rebecca stared at him with horror as his look of deception engulfed her.

"How...?" she began, but she didn't even have to be inquisitive to find out, because right behind him—of all people—Lisa entered her office. 

Her loyal surveillance girl.

"Lisa?" Rebecca asked, subtly trying to tear some sort of explanation from her. She avoided Rebecca's eyes as Janson gingerly cupped Lisa's chin. Although she grimaced slightly at his touch, Lisa let him.

"Surprised?" he asked. "Unlike you, this beautiful young girl was more intelligent. I've got to say, that really caught me by surprise. And then I come to find out what you did..." His voice quickly switched to a mutter, making Rebecca shake with nerves.

Baffled by the backstabbing pain of Lisa's betrayal, Rebecca ignored him. Keeping her eyes firmly on her, she asked, "Why, Lisa?" with a helpless shrug of her shoulder.

Lisa's expression seemed apologetic, but Rebecca couldn't even tell what her genuine feelings were anymore. "I—I'm sorry, Rebecca... but I couldn't let you do this anymore. When your life's on the line, it's best if you follow orders. And that's exactly what I did."

"You turned me in to save your own skin?" Rebecca asked with disbelief.

They had it under control; all they needed was to eliminate the next step of the trials. How could she have given up so easily?

With a silent gesture, Janson ordered Lisa to take hold of Chuck before she could even answer. Following an obedient nod, Lisa tried to grab his arm, but Chuck's protests made it more difficult for her. The boy's hysterical shouting as he pleaded to Rebecca for help, tore at Rebecca's conscience.

To think she put the Gladers' and Sara's life in the hands of that woman...

"Janson!" Rebecca cried out, falling on her knees and begging. "Please, let the boy go."

He slowly leaned closer to her face, and in a whisper, he said, "My only other option is to kill him." Her eyes grew wide, but he stood upright once again. "Like I said, you decide."

Rebecca made her choice with a shameful bow of the head, and tears streaming down her face.

Chuck's cries subsided as he realized Rebecca had no more options up her sleeve, and he simply whimpered as he was taken away. Rebecca could feel his eyes on her the entire time, to which she avoided hers.

Once they left, Janson suddenly seized her by the throat, and started breathing like a rabid animal. "You ruined everything I've done," he gritted his teeth before laughing humorlessly. "Worst part is that you ruined my niece's life."

Rebecca could already feel her lungs screaming for air, and she desperately tried to pry his hands from her throat. He harshly released her, making her drop to the floor on hands and knees, holding her neck and gasping for breath. It sent her on a coughing fit.

"Y—you ruined her life... not me," she choked out, but that only earned her a slap to the face.

"You sent her to the Maze without my consent! I needed her with me! With me!" he screamed. "And you keep getting in the way of everything, Rebecca." He grabbed his head with both hands, showing a ridiculous amount of anger.

"You... don't love her," said Rebecca, composing herself. "You're her uncle but you're using her. You don't love her."

He laughed with a ridiculing frenzy. "There's no time for 'love' in the world, Rebecca. The world's falling to pieces. People get infected, so what do we do? There's only room for your own pleasure or any other kind of selfish purpose at this point. And I choose both," he said, his eyes scanning her up and down as a smirk made its way to his filthy mouth.

Rebecca was disgusted. "Well, I gave her the love you couldn't give her, because you killed her family!" She cried out, then her grimace distorted into absolute horror, "And then you went and did the same thing to—"

"Purpose, dear." His voice was sinister; his eyes were reprimanding. "I don't ever do things without purpose. And you... you think I ever loved you?"

She shook her head with absolute conviction. "You're not capable of such a thing. And you disgust me," she seethed at him with burning anger.

Janson smiled. "But you gave me great pleasure, my dear. Great pleasure," he repeated in a slow, longing tone. "Pity you chose this path. It hurts to let the beauty of such a precious creature like you go to waste."

He reached over to stroke her cheek with his filthy hands, but she backed away. Angered, yet giving her a look of a hungry animal, he seized her by the shirt and ranged from mistreating her to the kind of behavior she'd come to loathe even more than physical violence.

She opened her mouth and reached over to bite hard on his ear, which made him retreat and curse her out in pain.

And that earned her another blow to the face, this time cutting her lip. She felt the taste of the metallic liquid, and the burning sensation.

In between sobs, she looked up at his demonic face. "You can't force people to do what you want. It—it'll be the end of you!"

"Of course I can!" he exploded. "But you ruined my plans for Sara! This is why I didn't want her to get close with that... boy." He passed a hand through his hair. "Have you thought about the consequences?" At her lack of response, he continued. "She's gonna hate you for what you did. And letting her be with Subject A5 was a terrible mistake. You're doing her more harm than good..." He lowered his voice and spoke in—what Rebecca believed for the first time—was a sorrowful tone, "It's gonna break her heart."

Rebecca snickered humorlessly. "Me? I've tried to help her stay away from you for her own sanity and protection! I don't think you care if you do her any harm. You only want—"

"Maybe. But yes, I need her." He never let her finish. "So, you're gonna do as I say, and make her want to come back here." He inched his face closer to hers, his angry breath brushing a cool wind against her sweaty skin.

"She'll never want to help you. She knows what this is all about, and you're forgetting how smart she is," she muttered, throwing all the hate she could muster into her words. "She can fool you all she wants."

His eyes ignited with more fury before he struck her on the left cheek with the back of his hand, making her spit out another mesh of bloody saliva onto the floor.

She wondered if Sara would've been better off without her. Rebecca was the person who was supposed to guide her and help her through this immensely dangerous journey. But here was her mentor, helplessly cowering below the iron fist of the man that they both promised to defeat.

"Help me? Ah, but she will!" he exclaimed hysterically. "I've made my appearance into your scheme. You ruined all of my plans, Rebecca, but since I'm a man of resources, I'll use everything you did in her favor to my advantage."

He then pulled her up from the floor by the arm with such ferocity, that she feared he'd tear it out of its socket. Although Rebecca tried to break free, foolishly thinking his age could maybe have diminished his strength, he gripped her arm even tighter.

"Bring me back my niece," he muttered menacingly, "now."

Rebecca had the means for it, but she'd never wanted to do that to her. What he was asking for was too much, far beyond what she could ever allow herself to do. And he knew this. He knew her too well; he knew Sara too well. And if Rebecca didn't do what he wanted, he was gonna find a way to hurt Sara even more.

"It won't work..." she whimpered, hoping to convince him, "...She won't help you no matter what I say—she's too smart."

Janson's pursed lips morphed into a small smile, then it transformed into another fit of laughter. His voice resonated all over the padded room, the sound waves bouncing from each wall to the next, simultaneously creating a chorus of mockery.

With condescending eyes, he looked straight into her own and said, "Oh, Rebecca. Even the most intelligent have their weaknesses," he softly spoke to her. "And I happen to know hers now."

"You wouldn't do that," she whispered, shaking her head bitterly.

"Well, you're the one who got her into this in the first place. If she had never met him..." he trailed off before hurriedly pushing Rebecca out the door.

"Janson, no!"